Hello Parents! I hope everyone is having a great week! I can't believe it is Easter already! 

Calendar Dates

March 28- Seder Meal/Cross Walk/Wear White Shirt

March 29- Rosary at 2 pm

March 31- Easter Sunday

April 5- Spirit Day

Apr. 8-12 ISASP Week

Apr. 19- No School/  PD Day

Reading- They took their Module test on Monday! These were our best scores yet!!! I am really proud of them! I am really excited to see they are putting so much effort into those short answer questions!!! I assigned them their book report today! A few have already finished reading and taking notes! They are starting to make their Google slides for their presentation! The project will be due in May. 

This week they also wrote their rough draft for the Dollars for Scholars essay. They were given 5 words. They had to choose one and explain how that is important to their education. 

Math- They are working on problems as a review. Next week we will focus on the test. This week is just too busy with Holy Week  activities. 

Religion- They took their test today! All did well!! I will send home tomorrow to be signed by you. I am currently showing them the movie The Ten Commandments. I always show this to the 5th graders the week of Easter because our Seder Meal follows the Hebrew people as they left Egypt. Once they get passed the fact that the movie is from the 50s, they get involved in the story of Moses. 

Seder Meal and Cross Walk tomorrow! Thank you for returning the permission slips. The walk should start around 12:30 in our courtyard if you'd like to go with us! Remember to wear a white shirt for the photo we take at the church! 

Rosary- We will be praying the Rosary at 2:00 pm on Friday. The 8th graders will be leading us. This will be our final activity to celebrate our Lenten Season and Good Friday. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter with your family and friends. I am heading to Waterloo to spend it with my brother and sister. Safe travels for those of you going out of town! 🐰

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Everyone! I hope you all were able to enjoy your Spring Break!! My sister and I had a relaxing time in Galena. Our brother and nieces came to spend an afternoon with us so we didn't get a ton of reading in! The weather was perfection! 

Calendar Dates

March 22- Spirit Day

March 28- Seder Meal/Cross Walk/Wear White Shirt

March 29- Rosary at 2 pm

March 31- Easter Sunday

April 5- Spirit Day

Apr. 8-12 ISASP Week

Reading- We are finishing our story this week! They will have their spelling test and reading tests on Friday!  Hopefully they are studying those spelling words because it has been a little bit since we've worked with them! We did play our Tic Tac Toe game with them today! I was pleased that so many remembered to drop the -e before adding -ing!  On Monday they will take their Module Test (unit test). We will also be working on our essays for Dollars for Scholars next week. I will also assign the next book report - which I talked about at conferences. It isn't going to be due until the middle of May. 

Math- We will finish our worksheet on Thursday. Hopefully it will be a little easier after taking a break! We will probably do a little more practice with dividing larger numbers on Friday. Next week we will begin the finishing up of this chapter! The test is just around the corner! 

Religion- We are going to get back to our chapter, but we took a break on Monday to make birthday cards for Father Patrick. On Tuesday they went to Reconciliation! I was really proud of the 3-5th graders! They were able to answer ALL of Father's question about Easter and Jesus dying on the cross! 

Permission Slip- In your child's folder is a permission slip that we need back before next Thursday. It is for the Cross Walk on Thursday. We will do the Seder Meal first and then they will walk with their Angel partners to the church with stops along the way to remind us of the walk Jesus took on that first Good Friday. They need to wear a white shirt so we can take our picture in the church. If they don't have a plain white one, they can wear a white one and then we will have them flip it inside out before we leave for the walk. You are welcome to join us on the walk if you want to! It is a great experience. 

Students are expected to participate in the meal unless they have a documented food allergy/issue.

Middle School Ready?? I told the 5th graders this week I was going to start doing some things to get them prepared for middle school next year. So from this point on they won't be doing corrections on homework assignments unless I see that they really are lost and need to fix things. They will still correct their tests. I have told Mrs. Sickels and Mrs. Burg to do the same in their classes with them. I told the 5th graders- your score will be your score. 

Spirit Day on Friday! It looks like the temps will be perfect for sweats! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Palm Sunday is this weekend!

God Bless,

Miss Surma

Hello Parents, I hope you're having a great week and not suffering from any whiplash from our temperatures! 

Calendar Dates

Mar. 1- Shorts can be worn

Mar. 2- STM Foundation/ Gala 

Mar. 4-7 Parent Teacher Conferences

Mar. 6-Bishop's Mass

March 8-15 Spring Break/ No School

March 19- Reconciliation Grades 2-5

March 22- Spirit Day

Reading- The story we are reading about this week is called The Good Garden. It is about a family in Honduras living through a drought. The main character Maria is responsible for growing food while her dad is away looking for work. Her new teacher teaches her how to make compost as a fertilizer and terraces to grow their crops. She grows some radishes that they can then sell at the local market to help make them some money. This one is a realistic fiction story.  They continued to work on their grammar and using commas in sentences.  They will test over this story on Thursday. Their spelling test is also on Thursday. On Friday we will start our next story and continue to work on it next week. That story won't get finished until after break. 

Math- This week I taught them the standard algorithm for division. We've been working on it for a couple of days. Some have really caught on. On Thursday, I plan on doing some more work with them, but I have warned them that they will have homework and will have to try it on their own (don't worry- I will be right there with them if they get stuck!) This is division you know how to do if they would bring it home! 

Religion- This Lenten season part of our promises is saying the Rosary in the chapel once a week. We did that on Monday. The 5th graders are so good at knowing where we are on the Rosary and the prayer they are expected to lead. We have finished our chapter on Lent and have returned to our other chapters in the book. This chapter focuses on baptism and confirmation. We discussed how kids joining the church as they get older could receive Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation at one time.  We also talked about how Confirmation students pick out their patron saint. The 5th graders did research on a saint and will report on them on Thursday. 

Shorts- They can begin to wear shorts on Friday. Make sure they follow the dress code. We use the child's fingertip length to determine mid-thigh. Students who wear shorts that are too short will receive a dress code violation and could lose the privilege to wear shorts. 

Conferences begin on Monday ! Thank you for signing up for your time! 

I hope everyone has a great Spring Break! Enjoy the break time. My sister and I are heading to Galena, Illinois for a few days! We have gone there the last two years, but this year we are making it more of a reading retreat! I can't wait! If you are traveling at all during break whether to Des Moines or somewhere further I wish you safe travels! 

I hope to see some of you at the Auction and Gala on Saturday!  Looks like there will be some great baskets from the grade bands and silent auction items. 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, Okay this weather doesn't feel like February! I love it, but I also know we need the moisture. I'm okay with rain!  I was able to see my niece perform last weekend at All-State Speech in Ames. Their choral reading story was about the planes that landed in New Foundland on 9-11 because the airspace had been shut down. It was really cool. I need to read the book. 

Calendar Dates

Feb. 23- End of 2nd Trimester/ Spirit Day/ Fish Fry

Mar. 1- Shorts can be worn

Mar. 2- STM Foundation/ Gala 

Mar. 4-7 Parent Teacher Conferences

March 8-15 Spring Break/ No School

Friday, March 1st- Shorts can be worn. I will remind them that if they wear shorts, I don't want to hear complaints of being cold! Shorts MUST be mid thigh- they have to be below their fingertips. If they aren't I will be sending home a slip with them to show they have broken our dress code policy. 

Spirit Day is this Friday! Sweats or hats for $1.

Math- We started our division chapter by estimating our division using compatible numbers. This isn't rounding. They have to find math facts that actually work so there isn't a remainder. We also have started dividing using partial quotients. This is the method I told them they won't do at home with you! We will get to the standard algorithm next week. 

Religion- we will be finishing up our Lent chapter on Thursday. Our next chapter deals with a few of the sacraments but mostly confirmation. We are also going to be reading one of my favorite stories from the Bible- The Woman at the Well. I think we will finish the chapter before break, but we won't have time for a test. That's okay.  We just won't test over this chapter. 

 The Knights of Columbus Fish Fry is this Friday at St. Malachy.  You can eat in the gym or drive up and get your dinner to go!! 🐟🐠

Reading- Our new stories have to deal getting people to recycle and reduce  what they use. We also have a story about a family who doesn't have much for food, but they learn some gardening tricks that help them! We will be working on figurative language in this story as well. In grammar they are learning about where to place commas in sentences. For example: commas go in a sentence when listing a series, or when you have a compound or complex sentence. On Wednesday, they worked on putting commas after introductory words or phrases. We also worked with placing semicolons in sentences with commas. Their spelling list this week is base words with the added endings of -ed and -ing. Some of the words require them to double the consonant! 

Thank you to those who have donated to our silent auction item and the live auction basket! The last day to donate will be Friday. We are shopping this weekend to finish it! I have seen the silent auction picture. It's beautiful!! Thank you, Tiffany Ossian! Don't forget to buy your dinner ticket if you're going to attend the Gala! 

The 2nd Trimester ends on Friday. Our final trimester will begin on Monday! The lateslip record will be clean! 

Don't forget to sign up for your conference time! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

Hello Parents! I hope you are having a GREAT week! The kids did an outstanding job at mass today!!! They received many compliments afterwards! 

Calendar Dates

Feb. 19- No School/ Professional Development Day

Feb. 23- End of 2nd Trimester/ Spirit Day/ Fish Fry

Mar. 2- STM Foundation/ Gala 

Mar. 4-7 Parent Teacher Conferences

March 8-15 Spring Break/ No School

Reading- This week we are working on our story about urban cities growing gardens. The story was trying to persuade us into making one of our own. We talked about living in Creston and that wasn't really a need because many of us have the space  for one. It showed us how in cities people are creating their own garden space on rooftops . Some of them are grown vertically. They gave us some history on Victory Gardens that were made during WWI and WWII because of the food shortage. That was pretty interesting. 

Grammar- we are wrapping up our section on past tense verbs and whether they are regular or irregular. For example:  like and liked are regular because we only add the -d. But go, went, had gone are irregular because we change the spelling so much that they become different words. 

They will have their spelling test on Friday as well as the weekly test.  This week's words are a little tricky because of the schwa sound on the unstressed final syllable. The words end in -al, il, el or le. They all have a similar sounding ending. 

Math- We worked on area and perimeter on Tuesday. I am NOT going to test them on this chapter. We have done enough of the multiplication with decimals. I need to keep moving because we have to do some division work!!! My plan is to start tomorrow (Thursday). This is where I usually have kids get emotional because it is hard. I am going to show them two ways to divide. One way is the standard algorithm. (The way you were taught).  I am also going to show them partial quotients. This is a way you don't know! I don't expect you to know! I won't let your kids ask you for help with this way either!!! We will do this in the room!!! 🤣

Religion- Now that mass is over we are going to focus on Lent. They made their Lenten promises! Part of that promise is that once a week during religion we will be going to the chapel to say the Rosary. 

The 2nd Trimester will end on February 23. I can't believe we have only one left!!! 

Auction- If you are going to donate to the Live Auction Basket or the Silent Auction item, please do so ASAP. We will be putting the Reading basket together soon. Thank you for the donations I have already received!! 

Fish Fry here at STM on February 23rd. They are offering drive up or dine in! 

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! I am heading to Ames on Saturday. My niece Olivia made it to the All-State Speech Contest in two categories. Both of them get to perform on Saturday! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! I hope you are doing well this week! We almost have everyone back in the class! We have been enjoying these nice temps as well. I know they will go back to normal soon enough! 

Calendar Dates:

Feb.9- Celebrating Valentine's Day/ Spirit Day

Feb. 14- Ash Wednesday- 5th grade mass

Feb. 23- End of 2nd Trimester/ Spirit Day/ Fish Fry

Mar. 2- STM Foundation/ Gala

Reading- They took their Module test on Monday. Sorry, I haven't checked them yet! I feel like every night there is something going on that stops me! I am also trying to check all the sick kids' papers. We did start our new unit. This one is focused on helping the planet. The first story we are going to read about is telling us how urban places create gardens on their rooftops! We are also learning about how authors write with persuasion. We discussed what that means. I posed a question to the 5th graders today. How would you persuade your parents to let you stay up longer at bedtime...without tears or drama? Quite a few of them had some pretty good arguments, while others were planning to tell you the "why", but then they were going to really play video games,etc. LOL I tried to play the role of the parents and give them some , "what if your parents say this..."  I apologize now if they try to pull something on you!  In grammar they are working more with verbs. Today we worked on writing verbs in past tense . We also worked with verbs where the spelling changes when we write them in a different tense. 

The spelling list is a bit trickier this time. It is the schwa sound with "L" . We talked about how the final syllable would have a vowel and L , but that vowel will not necessarily be heard. "Quarrel" was a tough one for many. I did tell them, it's not "coral". Angle and angel are on the list and always easily confused. 

Religion- We just finished up our religion chapter. I am going to talk to them about making their Lenten promises because that will start on Wednesday. I do tell them to pick something that won't make your family members' life miserable too because you are miserable. Father Halbur always talked about his friend who gave up coffee and then was miserable to live with until his wife told him to pick something else! No need for everyone to suffer! 

We will have mass next week! We have a big one!  I will give them their parts on Friday to start practicing. We have an extra reading that day, plus ashes.  There will be another Noisy Change Collection that day. 

Math- We are nearing the end of our chapter! They will probably be testing next week at some point. I have been sitting with some of them lately doing corrections because decimals X decimals ...we forget we need to count where to put that decimal in our product. 

Friday is a Spirit Day! They can also wear RED for Valentines or their Superbowl team clothing

The Valentines Party will be on Friday afternoon. I told the kids they can bring their Valentines on Friday. Thank you, Jacquie Merritt, for supplying our party with some treats! 

Tiffany Ossian came in on Wednesday to take pictures for our silent auction item! Thank you so much!! Don't forget that we are looking for donations for the silent auction item, but also the Live auction book basket that 3-5 will be putting together. 

I am going to be gone on Monday afternoon. There will be a substitute that afternoon. 

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! Stay well! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, Can you believe we will actually get a full week of school this week? I am not sure how to act! I am loving the melting snow and birds chirping!! 

Calendar Dates:

Feb. 7- Lenten Activity Night 6-7pm @STM/ Noisy Change Collection at Mass

Feb.9- Celebrating Valentine's Day/ Spirit Day

Feb. 14- Ash Wednesday- 5th grade mass

Feb. 23- End of 2nd Trimester/ Spirit Day/ Fish Fry

Mar. 2- STM Foundation/ Gala

Reading- This week we are finishing our story about living on the prairie. We have been talking about how they had to figure out the weather based on how the sky looked and how animals and insects acted. They will have their spelling posttest on Friday. They will also do their weekly test on Friday too. 

Next week they will have their Module Test (unit test) on Monday. After that we will start our next module. 

They did a great job on their book reports! It is always fun for me to hear that they loved the book because in the beginning so many of them don't think they will like them because it is out of their normal book choice. I get it. The great thing about reading is that you can take all kinds of adventures and don't have to stick to one genre! 

Math- This week we are really diving into multiplying decimals times decimals! They seem to have caught on quickly about where to put that decimal! Always good! 

Religion- This week they read about two saints. One is my personal favorite because he was so courageous. They read about Saint Maximilian Kolbe.  He was a priest from Poland during WWII. He ended up in Auschwitz. When a prisoner tried to escape the commandant of the camp sent 10 prisoners to a room with the goal of starving them to death as a punishment. One of the ten begged to not go because he was married and worried about his wife and kids. Maximilian offered himself up in his place. He is a martyr in our church. I shared with them a little about my dad growing up in Poland and escaping during WWII as well as a young boy. I told them some of things he experienced while on the run. He came to the USA at the end of the war through the Catholic Relief Services.  They will be finishing up this chapter and testing next week! 

Lenten Activity Night- Next Wednesday, we are hosting a night with some Lenten activities at our school. It will be from 6-7 pm. There will be some activities in the hallway, the gym, and then in the classrooms of the 3-5 wing. I hope to see you there! Everyone is welcome! 

Mass on Friday is at 1:30 pm.  Your child's guest needs to pick them up from school at 1:00. 

Valentine's Day- We are celebrating on Friday, Feb. 9 since Ash Wednesday falls on the 14th. The kids can bring in their Valentines that day. We will have a little party in the afternoon before they go home. 

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! I am going to Adoration on Saturday and then the book store here in town! There is an author visiting that day! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma